


To Know

by slytherinpoet



Category: The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Friendship, Gen, major french warning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-31
Updated: 2016-01-31
Packaged: 2018-05-17 09:23:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5863624
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slytherinpoet/pseuds/slytherinpoet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Conner Stoll was Nico's first boyfriend. It didn't work out, and Piper helps him through it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	To Know

Piper was the first to find Nico. She came with coffee and a notebook, not hurrying, not yelling like he thought she would. Well, he didn’t really expect Piper at all, but he did imagine someone yelling at him after he’d been hiding out all week. She saw him sitting by the lake behind a tree nearly ten minutes ago, and Nico thought maybe she hadn’t really seen him, because she kept walking with Annabeth. But here she was, and alone.

She sat down next to him as if she’d never looked at him with fear in her eyes. Nico was reminded painfully of Bianca, the last person to be this casual with him. Not even Hazel was truly at ease with him yet. Piper looked tired. She held the coffee out to Nico wordlessly, and he took it. At least she wasn’t trying to make him eat something.

“This sucks,” she said, looking at Nico.

He pulled his legs underneath him, sitting up straighter. “What else is new?”

She smiled a little at that. “Okay, Nico. Here’s the real question, I swear the only one I’ll ask.”

He shifted uncomfortably, feeling sick. He took a sip of the coffee. “Okay.”

“Did he cheat on you?” Her voice had no inflection or accusation in it. Nico blinked, his eyes locking on to hers. His stomach twisted again. No, there hadn’t been any cheating, but what did it matter? Was it not bad enough if Connor had just gotten tired of him, decided that he wanted to be a “free agent” for the school year while Nico was here at camp?

“No,” was all he said, looking down.

“Well, it doesn’t make it any easier, but now we don’t get to kill him,” she sighed. She leaned against the tree and Nico followed suit. “Percy and Jason were going to go find what school he was at and have a chat with him. But, I suppose you can’t kill every ex. And… Nico,” she added hesitantly. “Most of us got lucky. You didn’t find the person you’ll spend your life with right away. That’s not horrible.”

Nico moved to stand up. He knew it. She tricked him with the coffee and pretending to understand and now she was going to lecture him about relationships. Her hand went out, catching his wrist before he got too far.

“I broke up with Jason once,” she said quietly. Nico’s eyes widened, and he slowly sat back down.

“I felt like we weren’t really talking, like we liked the idea of each other more than we really liked each other. Like….” Her eyes searched the lake for the right words. “Like we were both speaking different languages, and doing our best to translate but it still wasn’t really getting through. You know?”

Nico looked at the lake too, hoping it would grant him words as well. The shimmering waves looked like the green of an older, mended heartbreak. “I’m sorry. But this isn’t like that. I was in love, he was the first person to… Gods, he was the first of so many things for me. This is exactly why I never wanted to do this, why I never thought I could be happy, because I can’t-“

“Dude!” Piper looked at him incredulously. “This has nothing to do with gender preference. He is an asshole, and you’re going to find someone else. Not that you need someone else, but if you want someone, someone will be there. There are many boys who have been praying to Aphrodite that you would be available again.”

“Piper!” Nico was fairly sure he was blushing, but he felt slightly less horrible and slightly horrified.

“Oh, believe it. I know a certain relentless son of Apollo who is practicing asking you out in the mirror right now.”

“Piper, if you think this is making me feel better, you don’t know me at all.”

Piper gave him a strange look. “You know, I was looking into French grammar after I discovered my inner linguist. There are two common words for “know” in French. One, “savoir,” is to know a cold, hard fact, like you know where the lake is. The other, “connaître” is an idea of something, like you know of something, but you don’t entirely understand it. And with people, you always use the second, because you can never truly know someone.”

Piper smiled and leaned over. “Do you feel like you really know Connor?”

Nico blinked. The past three months had been a blur. Connor had asked him out and for whatever reason, Nico had said yes. He wasn’t some larger-than-life hero like Percy had been, wasn’t teasing him like some of the Aphrodite kids did sometimes. He was real and he was there and he was Nico’s first kiss, he made Nico feel like he could be loved.

“I can’t say he was a fact, like the first “know,” Nico said. “But if you can’t know anyone anyway, then what’s the point of it all?”

“That’s why I asked Jason to give me a second chance,” she said. “I knew him. We know each other. Really, really know. And when you know, you know,” she said. “And you will really know someone. I promise.”

Years later, Nico would still think of this, remembering the French lesson he didn’t ask for. He’d remember the lake, remember the coffee, and remember the talk that was the first of many with his good friend. He was in her wedding, and she had been in his, and he loved all his friends but he felt like he knew her, really knew her, a bit more than the others. And he knew his husband as well, he had known from the moment he had dragged Nico into the infirmary, but he hadn’t recognized the jolt of electricity when it had happened. But now, he knew.

**Author's Note:**

> My first fic in four years, so please excuse the brevity and quality.  
> Your first love isn't always the one.  
> For HalWrites on tumblr, who got me back into writing and handles things way better than di Angelo. Definitely check out her solangelo soulmates au!


End file.
